A Life Of Love And Loss
by charrrr
Summary: Soulfinders are meant to be forever, right? The idea is that you have just one perfect match in the world, one true love. Ariadne Benedict found that... And then she lost that, along with a part of herself. But is the idea of the myth a lie? Is it possible for savants to have more than one true love in their life? On hold, see chapter four for details.
1. Chapter 1

**26th March 2033 - Wrickenridge, Colorado**

Soulfinder. Every savant has one. Soulfinders are two people that are conceived around the same time anywhere in the world. They're soulmates, destined for each other and the perfect match; a lot of savants said that soulfinders were reincarnated and found each other again in every life. Soulfinders balanced each other out and most savants could never fully love anyone else whilst knowing that their soulfinder was out there nor could they ever move on if they lost their soulfinder or their other half didn't want to be with them for one reason or another. 60% of savants never even found their soulfinders- the odds just weren't very high and a lot of people lost faith before they even started to look for their soulmate.

Ariadne May Benedict was one of the lucky ones who's soulfinder popped up out of nowhere, an obviously pleasant surprise to her. In September 2032, Tyler Black came into her life. His family had moved from New York to Wrickenridge and Tyler had been praying to find his soulfinder for years. He'd broken down into tears when he realised he had finally found her.

She'd been stunned to say the least. He was tall like her, with light brown hair and blue eyes. He'd worn glasses and had been a bit of a geek, something that Ariadne had never found attractive before but on Tyler she just found it adorable. He was always cracking jokes, always smiling and so full of life. He'd treated her like a princess and Victor, Ariadne's father, whom had always been over-protective of her, had approved of Tyler after just the first time meeting him. At the time Ariadne had been hurting over the fact her grandmother Karla had just passed away - Karla's husband and soulfinder Saul had died just two years beforehand and living without him was just too much for Karla; she had died of a broken heart - and Tyler soothed the pain of that loss that was inside of her. It hadn't taken long for her to fall madly in love with him and on the 19th of February, her 19th birthday, Tyler proposed and she said yes. What else would her answer have been? She knew that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with her soulmate, the one person in the whole world that was absolutely perfect for her, and she dreamed of them dying and then falling in love all over again in other life. Tyler called her a dreamer but she could tell that he hoped for the same thing. Neither one of them ever wanted to live without the other again; the thought of losing their soulmate tortured them both and it was an unspoken rule between the two that they wouldn't talk about losing each other. Because they both convinced themselves that would never happen- they were together for life now, one would never live without the other again.

But that's exactly what happened.

Ariadne would always remember that day like it was yesterday. She'd been in the apartment she shared with Tyler in Denver working on some college assignments when her mother and father had turned up. That was unusual considering they normally called beforehand so Ari had instantly expected to hear bad news. Especially when Hazel started off the conversation with: "Sweetie, we need to talk... I'm afraid we have some bad news."

They'd gone on to tell her that Victor - who still worked for the FBI - had been told that a young man had been shot whilst walking down the street. He'd been shot in broad daylight, a gunshot wound to the chest, and had died almost instantly. The murderer had run away before anybody could catch him. They told her that the victim had been Tyler Black. Ariadne almost laughed in their faces, not wanting to believe that her soulfinder was dead. It couldn't be true, she'd thought to herself at the time. It just couldn't. She'd tried to contact him telepathically but couldn't make a link to his mind. Then she'd felt deep down inside of her, feeling for the soulfinder bond that had always been so strong and just _there_... And it was gone. Snapped, disappeared; it had died with Tyler. And so had a part of Ari's heart. The moment she realised that his death was real, she'd screamed and bawled whilst her parents held her and cried with her.

And now here she was, a week later, at Tyler's parents' house with all his family and close friends after the funeral. The funeral had been a wonderful send-off, his mother had made sure of that. She'd asked Ari to make a speech but she had declined. A part of her didn't even want to go to the funeral but her parents had convinced her to. She didn't see the point of the funeral. Tyler was gone, she could feel that deep in her heart. He was no longer here. The numbness and brokenhearted feeling inside her was proof of that. He wasn't going to hear their words, he wasn't going to see them grieving, he wasn't going to be there to comfort them and wish alongside them that things had been different. No, he wasn't here. He had left her. Some coward had taken him away from her and she was never going to see him again. Never going to hear his laughter or feel him holding her as they slept. He had been her whole world... And now he was gone.

And Ariadne didn't think she could deal with that.

Dressed in her little black dress and black heels, she sat on the sofa in the living room and tried to ignore the chatter and the sobs of those around her. She looked up and saw Victor and Hazel talking to Tyler's parents, looking sad and solemn- Tyler had been like a son to them and they were affected by the loss too. Her eighteen year old sister Cadence and fourteen year old brother Jaxon were stood by the table of snacks, silently picking at the food and looking like they didn't know what to do with themselves. On the other side of the room Julien, Ari's twin brother, stood with his eight months pregnant soulfinder Jemima. He caught Ari's eye across the room and mumbled something to Jemima - a short woman with curls of blonde hair and big blue eyes - before striding across the room.

He sat down on the sofa beside Ari, sitting up straight like he always did. Julien was a lot like their father: light brown skin, dark hair that was slightly past his neck in length, tall and muscular. He was also very organized, tough and brilliant at hiding his emotions just like Victor was but he'd inherited a softer side from Hazel. Ari, Julien, Cadence and Jaxon were all confident and strong like both of their parents, but Julien was the one who showed it the most. He was even training to be in the FBI just like his father. He smiled sadly at Ari, his dark brown eyes full of emotion. "How are you holding up?" He asked his sister gently.

"I'm not," she replied honestly, her voice weak. Ari had barely spoken to anybody since Tyler's death, mumbling just the odd few words every now and then. Hazel insisted that Ari stay with them so that they could keep an eye on her - it was obvious to everybody that Victor and Hazel were terrified Ari was going to do something to hurt herself - and Ari hadn't argued. She'd curled up in the single bed in her room and had barely even moved.

"Everybody loved him," Julien spoke. "Tyler was a great guy, he didn't deserve to die so early in his life, especially like that. I can't even imagine how much you're hurting right now, Ari. I tried to think about what it would be like to lose Jem but it just isn't something I can ever picture. She's been in my life for six years now, you know? I can't even remember what life was like without her anymore. You're my twin sister, Ari- it's killing me to see you like this.

"All I can say is that we're all here for you. We will all help you get through this. Tyler wouldn't want you to do something stupid, like hurt yourself or worse-"

"Why is everyone so convinced I'm going to kill myself?" Ari snapped angrily. "Just back off, Jay."

"We're just worried about you. We've all heard the stories of people not being able to cope without their soulfinders, it's so common these days. What makes you an exception to that? I'm not trying to start an argument, Ari. I'm just telling you the truth like we've always done with each other. I love you, I just want to see you happy again."

Ari stood up and looked down at her brother with a lump in her throat and tears in her eyes. "I lost my soulfinder. I'm never going to be happy again. I'm gonna go home, it's been a long day and I'm tired. Tell mom and dad, okay?" She knew that she could easily just go over and tell them herself but she just wanted to get out of there. Photos of Tyler growing up were all over the walls; his mother was sobbing loud enough for everybody to hear; people were sharing stories of Tyler, talking about him in the past tense as if he'd been dead for longer than a week. It was too much for Ariadne to deal with and she felt like if she stayed a moment later she would scream at them all to shut up. It was all good and well saying how Tyler shouldn't have died but it wasn't going to change a single thing. It wasn't going to bring him back to her.

"Sure," he nodded understandingly and stood up too. Julien and Ariadne had always been close, so close that when they were little they created their own 'twin language' and had always had an intuition about what the other was thinking and feeling without using any of their powers. Until Tyler came along, Julien was the only person that understood Ariadne completely. "Do you want a lift or anything?"

"No it's just down the road," she rolled her eyes, referring to her parents' house. "I can walk."

She turned to walk away but Julien reached out to grab her arm before she could go. "Dad's working on finding the guy that killed Tyler," he said. "I thought you should know, dad wasn't going to tell you yet. This person get what he deserves for this, okay? He's going to suffer for making you hurt so much."

"Still not going to make anything better," she shrugged and pulled herself out of his grasp before walking away.

* * *

**26th March 2033 - London, England**

"Noah!" He heard a voice shout his name as he entered the restaurant through the staff entrance and turned to see his best friend heading towards him. Miles was short for his age, with thick eyebrows and a mess of shaggy dark hair. He was dressed just like Noah in their waiter's uniform: smart tuxedos with a black bowtie to match. "You're late! Three of the guys are off and we have a bunch of rich businessmen arriving in a few minutes, what could possibly have made you turn up to work ten minutes late?!"

"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact I have a three year old daughter and I have to make sure she has somebody to look after her whilst I'm working?" Noah asked sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. "I've left her with my aunt Wilma even though she's still not happy I had a child at sixteen."

"What did the crazy woman have to say today then?" Miles asked as they headed towards the kitchens. "Another lecture about teenage parenting? Or perhaps another vision of the future?" He wiggled his fingers in the air, laughing. "Ooh, did she mention us getting any expensive tips tonight?"

Noah laughed with him and shook his head. "You can't really expect any tips from those guys, you know that. They're too involved in their own lives and getting as much money as they can into their banks. They're not going to give that away to a few waiters like us."

"You make a fair point there my dear friend," Miles joked.

Their conversation abruptly stopped when they joined their colleagues and the bustle of the other waiters and waitresses preparing themselves for a busy Saturday night of customers. It would be a long night but it would be worth it- the pay was decent enough for Noah to live off due to the fact this was a pretty fancy restaurant. It was expensive here so almost all of their customers were rich, some of them even being the occasional celebrity.

Noah grabbed hold of a small, plain black notepad and a black biro pen before plastering on a fake charming smile and heading out to the first table of the night he was serving. The table was one of the larger ones in the restaurant, sat at by seven businessmen dressed in suits. They were talking amongst themselves, probably about business Noah guessed, and looked solemn and serious. He caught a snippet of their conversation as he approached their table. The man sat at the head of the table - a pudgy man with a short grey beard and thinning hair - was the one speaking. "-and then the son of a bitch tried to blame it on me! I swear, the nerve of him. He's already gotten rid of three of my children and my wife, did he really think I'd let him get rid of me too? I wasn't going to let him get away with that! I swear, if I ever get my hands on any one of the Benedict bunch I will-" He cut off when he noticed that Noah had reached the table and snapped his fingers. "Finally! What took you so long, boy? We've been waiting for over half an hour now, this is completely bad service."

"I'm so sorry about your wait sir," Noah replied falsely, used to dealing with difficult customers. "My name is Noah and I will be your server tonight. Have you gentleman decided what you would like yet?"

It was nearing eleven o'clock at night when Noah finally arrived back at his two-bedroomed flat. Wilma's chubby frame was curled up on the sofa dressed in one of her floral maxi dresses that she favoured so much, her frizzy red hair sprawled around her head. She was watching repeats of some reality TV show and smiled at Noah as he closed the door behind himself. "Sorry I'm so late. We were swamped," he said, followed by a yawn. "How was she?"

"She was a little angel," Wilma said as she sat up. "She's fast asleep. Don't worry, I've checked on her every hour before you ask. You really are far too cautious with her. Well I'm going to head home Noah because I feel just as tired as you look."

"Ok," he replied with a smile. "Thanks for looking after her, I appreciate it. I don't usually work on Saturday nights but the boss asked me to, some kind of flu going around so a few people are off sick."

"It's fine, I don't mind. I might not like the fact you had her at such a young age and you're a single parent but... You're a good dad and she's a perfect little girl." She clamped a hand down on his shoulder and looked into his eyes. "There's just one more thing I need to tell you before I go. I had a vision earlier."

Noah rolled his eyes over-dramatically and took a step back, her hand falling from his shoulder. All of his life Noah had had to deal with his aunt Wilma being a little crazy. She seemed convinced that she was some sort of psychic, making predictions and saying that she had visions of the future. Sometime she was actually right but Noah thought those times were just lucky guesses. She sold psychic readings to people as a job, including using tarot cards and a crystal ball. Noah basically thought that she was full of rubbish but he loved her so of course he didn't say that to her. But he made it pretty obvious that he didn't fully believe in her 'talent'.

"I know you don't believe in it," Wilma added, "but this is true Noah and you will see that. Something's coming that will change your life forever... I keep getting the words "Most Holy" into my mind when I try and see what it is. I still don't know for sure what this "Most Holy" thing is, but I know that it will change you. You will find things out about the world that you never even guessed before and I cannot say for certain whether this will be a good or a bad thing. Be careful, Noah."

Noah stared at her for a long moment before smiling. "Something holy, okay then. I'll try and keep that in mind," sarcasm was evident in his voice. "Goodnight, Wilma."


	2. Chapter 2

**28th March 2033 – London, England**

"Scar, c'mon!" Noah exclaimed exasperatedly, kneeling on the floor of the living room. The little girl continued to giggle, skipping around the room with no clothes on. "Scarlett, come and get your clothes on. I'm not kidding around, you're going to be late for nursery. Don't make me come and grab you."

Scarlett came over to stand in front of him, folding her arms across her chest and pouting with a frown on her face. "But I don't want to go, daddy. I want to stay home today."

"Aww," he pouted his lips before grinning. "I don't care. You're going. Hands up." Scarlett raised her arms up in the air and Noah pulled on the white polo shirt of her uniform. Once she was fully dressed she sat down in front of him with her back to him and he started to pull a comb through her hair. "So why don't you want to go today, hmm?"

"Because Ava said that I don't have a mummy so I was the odd one out. Everybody laughed at me, daddy. Why don't I have a mummy?"

Noah put the comb down and picked Scarlett up, turning her around and pulling her to sit on his knee. It pained him to hear his daughter say those words. He had been hoping that things would continue the way they had been, with her not minding that she didn't have a mother, although he had expected that a day would come where she would be asking. He wanted for her to have a normal life and why couldn't she have that with only one parent? He thought about how best to answer her before he spoke. "Scar, all families are different. Some people only have a daddy, some people only have a mummy, some people have both. Some people even have two daddy's or two mummy's. And that's okay. So when your classmates laugh at you for only having a daddy, just ignore them. Everybody is different and it doesn't matter that you only have me. We're a happy family with just the two of us, aren't we?"

"Yes," she nodded and smiled sweetly, a dimple in her left cheek. "There's a boy in my class that has two daddy's. I think I'll make friends with him today 'cause he doesn't have any friends."

"That would be a lovely thing for you to do," he smiled at her and kissed her cheek. "Come on then, let's find your shoes and bag and set off before you're late."

Once he had dropped Scarlett off at nursery, Noah set off to his second job. He hated having to work two jobs but it was just something he had to do to make ends meet. His parents were quite rich so he could easily still live with them and ask them for money but he didn't want to live like that. He wanted to set a good example for Scarlett and prove to everybody that he could do this himself. He worked evenings/nights three or four days a week at the restaurant and worked at his dad's office every day of the week whilst Scarlett was at a full-time nursery. His dad owned his own insurance company and Noah worked as a sort of errand-boy there: he'd make coffees and teas, he'd make trips to the printer/photocopier room, etc. It wasn't a very exciting job but still, it was worth it. There were plenty of people out there doing jobs they didn't like, why should he give up and live off his parents' money if those people managed to put up with it?

After entering the building his father owned, he caught the elevator up to the fifth floor where he worked – it was also the floor that his dad's office was on – and signed in with the secretary of the floor before going to his dad's office and knocking on the door. "Come in!" He heard the harsh bark of his father's voice. He entered the room and saw his father sat in the leather chair behind his desk. David Taylor was a man in good shape for his forty six years. He had thick dark hair with only a few grey streaks, a muscular build and light stubble on his cheeks. Like he always did, he was wearing one of his many suits. David was a work addict whom always put work before anything else, including family. Growing up, Noah had been intimidated by David and still was most of time. They had never been close and David rarely ever showed love to his son or his granddaughter. "Hello Noah," he nodded in greeting as Noah sat down across from him.

"Good morning dad," he replied with a smile. He was nearly always polite to David despite feeling like he had never done anything to be a good dad. He was the reason that Noah had sworn to be the best dad possible when he found out his ex was pregnant with Scarlett. He would rather die than become like his father. "How did that merger deal go?"

"It didn't," David replied flatly. "They decided to go with somebody else. Never mind though, I'm not giving up. We'll just have to find somebody else. You look tired," he pointed out. He didn't sound affectionate or caring in any way, simply pointing out something that he had noticed.

"I was at the restaurant last night 'til late," Noah replied. "Aunt Wilma looked after Scarlett for me."

David scoffed and shook his head. "You shouldn't let my sister anywhere near your daughter," he said. Wilma was actually David's half-sister (they had different mothers) but Noah didn't correct him. "You don't want Wilma rubbing off any of her craziness on Scarlett, putting stupid ideas into her head that psychics are real."

"She doesn't talk about that sort of stuff in front of Scarlett," Noah defended her. "Anyway, I suppose I better start the first drinks round. Do you want your usual- coffee with no milk, one sugar?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Don't forget the new guys-" A scream interrupted him and Noah and his father rushed out of the office to see what was wrong. David's secretary was squealing behind her desk, phone in hand and a huge grin on her face. She was a slightly overweight woman in her late twenties with mousy brown hair and pale skin with an array of freckles on her face. "Kathy, what the bloody hell is going on? What's with the racket?"

"I just found out my book is getting published!" She said excitedly. "So I am very sorry Mr Taylor... But I quit. I don't need this job anymore, I quit."

"You can't just quit, you have to hand in your notice-"

"No I don't, I read my contract. Taylor Insurance is very popular sir, I'm sure if you put out an ad for a new secretary you'll get plenty of applicants," she rolled her eyes. "But me? I'm outta here." She grabbed her hand bag and walked away, cheerily laughing away to herself.

Noah turned to look at his father and saw that he was bright red, fuming with anger. "Dad," he said in a careful voice to try and keep him calm. "Don't get stressed, remember what that does to your heart problems. Look, I'll take the role of secretary and get Miles in to replace me as errand-boy, just until you hire somebody new, okay?"

David nodded and took a deep breath. He clamped a hand down on Noah's shoulder and squeezed once before letting go. "Thanks, son. Tell your friend I'll pay him for the hours he helps us out. Suppose I better put out an ad at the agency for a new secretary." He sighed before heading back into his office.

Noah slid his mobile out of his pocket and dialed Miles' number. When he answered Noah simply asked, "you wanna make a bit of extra money?"

* * *

**28th March 2033 – Wrickenridge, Colorado**

Ariadne could hear the murmur of voices downstairs when she awoke. She closed her eyes and tried to fall back asleep, desperate to go back into her dream where she was with Tyler and all was right with the world. It was unfortunately a wasted attempt though. Tears sprung to her eyes but she quickly blinked them away – she would no longer allow herself to cry – and pushed back the covers of her bed, sitting up and letting out a long sigh.

Not bothering to change out of her pyjamas, she walked out of the bedroom and padded down the stairs. When she entered the living room her family fell silent. Clearly they'd been talking about her but she couldn't find it within herself to care. She sat down on the rocking chair in the room and pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. Her parents, brothers and sister, and Jemima were in the room and were all looking at her.

Hazel was the first to speak. "Morning sweetheart," she said in a forced light-hearted voice. "Would you like some breakfast?"

"No," Ariadne replied before dropping her legs so she was sat properly. "I uhm, I need to tell you all something."

"What is it?" Cadence asked. Ari's younger sister was always told that her and Ari looked like twins, with them both looking almost identical and being only a year apart in age. They were quite close as sisters went but still had arguments and stole each other's clothes.

Ari hesitated for a moment before deciding to just tell them the truth. After all, they were her family so if she couldn't confide in them, who could she confide in? "I feel empty without Tyler," she said, forcing herself not to allow tears to make an appearance. "It's like I'm not even myself anymore. Everywhere I look there's memories of him and I feel like I'm going to lose my mind. I'm not me anymore. A part of me died with him."

"Oh Ariadne," Hazel said, openly crying. Victor wrapped an arm around her waist comfortingly. Ari had always loved her parents' relationship. They argued constantly over the smallest of things but it was more amusing than anything else; they loved each other immensely, that was clear, and Ari had always wished to have somebody that she could have that kind of love with and somebody that would support her so much. And she had found that in Tyler.

She looked away from her parents, another pang of heartbreak enveloping her. "I just don't think I can be here right now," said Ari. "I was up late last night because I couldn't sleep and I ended up phoning Mark." Mark was Ari's cousin (Trace and Georgie's son) and was only six months older than her; out of all of her cousins, he was the one she was closest to. He was currently living on his own in London whilst helping out the London branch of the savant net. "He said that if I wanted I could go and stay with him for a while. I said yes."

"You're moving to London?" Jaxon asked, raising his eyebrows. Unlike Julien, Jaxon looked more like Hazel in his facial features and he kept his hair cropped short. He had inherited one thing from Victor though: the deep tone of his voice that had a rash huskiness to it. His voice had broken a few weeks ago and Ari still found it hard to believe that was his voice now. "But why would you want to move? Stay here, you have us." Jaxon was sensitive for a fourteen year old boy but that was the way he had always been.

"I can't," she shook her head repeatedly. "Jaxon, I'm sorry. It's just too hard. I need a new start and London is far enough away for me to be able to do that."

"But what about college?" Victor asked, always the sensible one. Ari was studying Chemistry at Denver University – having chosen that college so she could stay near her family – and was in her first year of the four-year course.

"I'm dropping out," Ari said with a shrug. "I don't even want to be a scientist anymore, I don't know what I want to be. Besides, that's where I met Tyler; it'd just be another reminder of him. I was going to take a year off after the end of this semester anyway because Tyler and I were going to go travelling. It's no big deal."

"No big deal?!" Victor asked, shocked and looking slightly angry. "I didn't pay your college fees for nothing, Ariadne. Nor did your mother and I buy you an apartment just so you could move out of it a year later! I know that you miss Tyler but moving to London is a ridiculous idea-"

"Vick, shush," Hazel interrupted him whilst she stood up and walked over to Ari. Ariadne stood up to face her mother, not knowing what emotion to expect from her. Hazel looked over her shoulder at Victor. "She has to go, don't you see?" She looked back at Ari but her words were still directed at Victor. "For one, we can't force her to continue doing a course that she doesn't enjoy or want to make a career out of. I understand why you need to go, sweetheart," she directed the words at her daughter now. "You're grieving and you need to get away for a while, I felt the same way when I lost my parents. You don't know who you are right now and that's okay; you can discover that in London. Cadence can move into your apartment until you get back-"

"Yes!" Hissed Cadence, who had been begging their parents to get her an apartment now that she was eighteen and they had done the same thing for Ariadne on her eighteenth.

"-and it's great that your cousin is letting you stay with him. Just promise me a few things, okay? You'll visit my brother and your cousins, I know they would love to see you. And you'll stay in touch with us of course, I'll answer the phone every time you call despite the time difference. And the last thing... Smile at least once every single day. Even if it's a forced smile. You'll get into the habit and you'll slowly become happier. That's what I did when I was younger and I left Wrickenridge, moving back to London and under the impression I would never see your father again. Clearly I did see him again though, otherwise you wouldn't be here today," she laughed through her tears. "Promise me you'll do all those things. Please, Ariadne May."

"I promise," Ariadne nodded and enveloped Hazel in a hug, grateful that she had such an understanding mother that would always take her side no matter what.

* * *

Author's note: Please leave reviews, I love to read them :)

**A hint about the next chapter: **Gracie is reunited with her cousin Mark.


	3. Chapter 3

**31st March 2033 – London, England**

_Dear Tyler,_

_It's pretty obvious that you're not going to have the chance to read this letter. In fact, once I've wrote it I'm going to put it away in a box under my new bed where it will never be seen by anybody if I have anything to do with it. My mom suggested to me that I write letters to you as a way of trying to cope with my grieving. She said that she once wrote a letter to my dad when she couldn't express her feelings properly and couldn't get the words out. I don't know much about how they got together but I doubt it was as perfect as our story. That is, our story before I lost you. _

_I've just arrived in London and I'm in Mark's apartment. He isn't home from work yet but he was kind enough to ask a neighbour he trusted to give me the key. But that isn't important, that isn't why I'm writing to you._

_I miss you. Looking around, I can't help but imagine what this would be like if you were by my side. I think you would have liked seeing London. It always was one of your favourite cities and you would have enjoyed being able to walk around without anybody knowing or caring who you were and what your story was. I could just imagine you looking out of the windows of Mark's apartment and marvelling at how different this all was to Wrickenridge._

_I thought about going travelling just like we planned but it wouldn't have been the same without you. Rome, Berlin, China, Japan, Chicago, and all of the other places we talked about going to... they just don't have the same appeal to me anymore. _

_Everybody keeps telling me that you didn't deserve to die. That you were perfect. But you and I both know that you weren't all that perfect – nobody's perfect, are they? You had your faults just like everybody else does. Your habit of biting your nails which you know irritated me so; the soft tuft of your hair that always stuck up at the back no matter how often you tried to gel it down; the way you were sometimes so immersed in a book that you wouldn't pay attention to anything around you, even if that meant you knocked into somebody in the middle of the street; how your jokes sometimes went too far and made you seem insensitive as they upset people. I would put up with all that without complaint though if it meant I could have you back._

_Tyler, nobody knows this but ever since I lost you there is a tub of unopened pills hidden in my handbag. The day dad told me what happened to you I tried to take them, planned to swallow every single one of them so that I could be with you again. But I was a coward and I couldn't even bring myself to open the tub. But I've kept it. As horrible as this sounds, the pills are a reassurance to me that if ever I get to the point where I know that there is no more of this constant pain that I can take, I can very easily end it all. It is a slight comfort to me although I still know that I don't have anything to live for anymore._

_I can imagine what you'd be thinking if you read this. You'd be thinking that I was stupid, an idiot for ever even thinking about suicide. I can imagine us meeting up in heaven or wherever it is that you are (I would like to think you were in heaven, waiting for me) and the first words you say to me are "I can't believe you gave up, Ari." That would be the perfect reaction for somebody of your nature and I know that if that did happen, you would give me a tough time for it for eternity. You always did say that a person should never give up, no matter how tough it seems, because eventually things will get better._

_But I don't see this getting any better, Tyler. Starting a new life in London... Right now it feels like it's going to be an act, a challenge that I can't succeed at. But we'll see how it goes._

_Love, _

_Ari._

Ariadne put the pen down flat on the desk in her new bedroom and sat back in the chair with a sigh. Even after writing the letter, she didn't feel any better. But she decided that she was going to try and keep up with this, write a letter to Tyler whenever she could or whenever she felt like she needed to let some stuff out. It was the only way she had to be able to talk to him. For the first few weeks after his death she kept on ringing his phone just so she could hear his voice on the answering machine but that soon stopped when his mother cancelled his phone contract and got rid of the phone itself.

When she heard the front door open and then slam shut, she took her mind off the letter and stood up. Walking out of her bedroom, she went into the living room which the front door led straight into and saw her cousin Mark there. Mark looked like a typical Benedict boy: tall, mixed colouring, messy brown hair and a ruggedness to him that showed he had a bit of an attitude and was tough enough to beat up anybody that gone on the wrong side of him.

He grinned at Ari and they met in the middle of the room. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around. When he finally set her down, he was still grinning. "God, it's so good to see you! You're the first family member I've seen since I moved here three months ago."

"What about Gracie?" Ari questioned. "I thought she was in London at the moment." Gracie was Mark's older sister and was now twenty-nine; because of the age difference, Ari didn't know her very well nor did they contact each other that often. With so many cousins, it was impossible to stay close to all of them.

"Nah, they got relocated last month. Doing something for the net in Italy now, if you can believe it. And next week they're heading off to Africa to help with all those animals rescued from that horrible zoo. They're hoping to be in Wrickenridge for Christmas though."

"I hope they are," Ari replied. Christmas was a huge event every year, with all of the entire family spending the day together. "I really only see them at Christmas these days. Anyway, what are you here helping the net with?"

"Can't tell you that, classified information I'm afraid," he smirked, probably liking the fact he knew something she didn't. They had always had that little competitive streak between them. The smile fell from his face and he turned serious. "Ari... About Tyler. I know that I only met him a few times so I wasn't really close with him, but I am sorry that he died."

"Yeah, well. So is everybody else," Ariadne shrugged. "Can we not talk about Tyler please? I don't really want to get into it."

"Sure," he nodded in understanding. "How about we order in a movie, watch some TV, play Monopoly..."

"Monopoly? Mark, the last time we played that game we ended up screaming at each other and we didn't speak for two weeks afterwards," Ari pointed out.

"That's why it's exactly the right thing to do to take your mind off everything! Besides, that was three years ago. We're both adults now, I'm sure it won't be that bad this time."

"Yeah you're right," she nodded. "Because you won't even be any competition to me anyway, I'll win easily."

"Huh, you're really going to be that cocky? Well then, game on."

* * *

Noah sat down on the floor of the living room cross-legged and opened the box in front of him. The box was full to the brim of photos. Most of them were of Scarlett as a baby that he liked to look back on but there were quite a few of him and Scarlett's mother.

Noah and Savannah had met in high school when they were just eleven years old and it was the typical story: they started off as friends and slowly developed into a relationship over the years. He rooted around in the box until he found a photo of the couple before the pregnancy, before everything fell apart. In the photo they were about sixteen and were at a friend's party, stood next to each other with their arms around each other's waist.

Savannah was beautiful. Porcelain perfect skin, long blonde curls, bright blue eyes and a smile that lit up the room every time she entered. She'd been popular yet kind and intelligent, so full of life and always laughing. Noah had always had a preference for smiley girls over the whole 'depressed or emo' girls, the smile the first thing he always noticed about a girl. He had been so in love with her, always choosing to spend time with her over time with his friends. He adored everything about her.

Noah missed Savannah. Despite everything, he missed her. Looking at her smiling face in the photograph, he wondered if they would still be together now if all the drama hadn't happened. He liked to think that they would be.

A scream broke him out of his thoughts. "Daddy!" He heard a high-pitched shout.

Dropping the photo back into the box, he clambered to his feet and ran into Scarlett's bedroom as fast as he could. "What? What's wrong?" She was sat up in her bed, clutching at the pink teddy bear she slept with every night. Tears streamed down her face and her small body was shaking. Noah rushed over and sat down next to her, pulling her into his arms. "Scar, what's wrong? Did you have a bad dream?"

Scarlett nodded her head, her bottom lip quivering. "I saw this pretty girl. And then this bad man came up behind her and pushed her down the stairs. You were there daddy, crying over the pretty girl and telling her to wake up. The bad man ran away laughing. He had a scary face, daddy."

Noah held her tight and gently rocked her to and fro. "Shh, it was just a bad dream, okay? It's not real. The only pretty girl I know is you princess, and was it you that was pushed down the stairs?"

"No," Scarlett shook her head. "It was an older pretty girl. She had brown hair and brown skin."

"Well then, I don't know anybody that looks like that so it can't be real, can it?" Scarlett shook her head. "Exactly. Come on then, lay down. I'll read you another bedtime story but then you really have to go back to sleep because you have school in the morning."

"But what if I see the bad man again?" She asked after Noah let go of her and she laid back down under her covers. "What if he tries to hurt me this time?"

"You tell the bad man that you know he isn't real and that he should get out of your dream," Noah answered with a smile. "Now, which story do you want me to read?"

"Uhm... Cinderella!" She grinned.

"How did I know that would be your answer?" Noah playfully rolled his eyes.

"Because it's my favourite daddy!" She giggled.

"Of course it is," he laughed and opened the front page, clearing his throat before he began to read. "Once upon a time..."

* * *

Author's note:

It's a short chapter I know, I'm really sorry. I just wanted to get Mark and Ari's reunion out of the way, plus you got to know a little bit about Scarlett's mum. You'll learn more about her in a future chapter.

Please leave reviews :)

**A hint about the next chapter:** Noah and Ariadne meet.


	4. Author's Note:

Hi guys!

I **hate** to do this to another story but I'm afraid this story is going on hold for a short while. It's nothing to do with me not wanting to write it or having no ideas, because I do.

It's simply because I have a Mortal Instruments Alec/Magnus fic that I was working on ages ago and I put that on hold because I was focusing more on my Finding Sky fics. I told the followers of that fic that it'd only be for a few weeks but it's actually been months so I feel obliged to start working on that one again.

I had to choose between my F.S fics of which to put on hold and I chose this one as it has less followers and reviews so that means less people that will hate me for it, haha.

Once I finish the Mortal Instruments fic - which won't take that long as it's already on Chapter 16 - I will start writing this story again and possibly Repeating History as well.

A Pocket Full Of Soul and Innocent Illusions however will continue to have updates as usual.

I hope you all understand.

Charlotte xo


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